Book cover for The Playmaker's Decisions: The Science of Clutch Plays, Mental Mistakes and Athlete Cognition by Daniel Peterson and Leonard Zaichkowsky

The Playmaker's Decisions

The Science of Clutch Plays, Mental Mistakes and Athlete Cognition

2020 Released
292 Pages
4-6 Hours
Ebook Unavailable
Audiobook Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
Intelligens Press, LLCISBN 9781736144817

The Playmaker on any team makes the right decision at the right time, almost every time. Despite the constraints of time, tactics, and rules, the best players combine their vision and skills with razor-sharp decision accuracy for an unstoppable competitive advantage.


As a follow-up to "The Playmaker's Advantage", their bestselling guide for athletes, coaches, and parents, Daniel Peterson and Dr. Leonard Zaichkowsky now focus on the split-second decision-making process that produces both clutch plays and mental mistakes.


Whether you are a coach who needs to sharpen your team's decisions under pressure or a parent who is trying to understand your young superstar's mental game or even a fan who has yelled at the TV wondering why your team breaks your heart, "The Playmaker's Decisions" combines science and stories to shed light on the black box of athlete cognition.

Leonard Zaichkowsky

Leonard Zaichkowsky, a professor, researcher, and consultant for almost four decades at Boston University, pioneered sports psychology by bringing cognitive neuroscience and sports performance together as an interdisciplinary science. His academic textbooks and research publications demonstrated the importance of an athlete’s remarkable brain in anticipating and acting on opportunities during competition. He has consulted with teams in the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, Australian Rules Football, the Spanish men’s national soccer team, and Olympic sports organizations around the world. Len is a former president and a fellow of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, and currently section editor on psychology for the International Journal of Health, Sport and Science. Recently, the American Psychological Association honored Len with the “Distinguished Service to the Profession” award. Today, Len is a cofounder and senior consultant at 80 Percent Mental Consulting, advising coaches, teams, and sports organizations on developing athlete cognition. After too many Boston winters, he and his wife now live in Fort Myers, Florida.

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